Universidad de Granada 2013‐2014 preparation exchange/placement application process The application website did not work well for some reason, fortunately if I send emails about it they were relatively helpful. counselling/support at home university They were helpful and gave us enough information. It's just a shame they don't have more office hours, it's easier if you can just walk by on more occasions. academic preparation Before leaving I already had enough ECTS to graduate, so I took mostly first and second year courses that I didn't specifically need to prepare for. language preparation I left for Spain about three weeks before the introduction started to take a language course. In Granada, but from what I know also in the rest of Spain, there are a lot of language schools to choose from. I chose Delengua, which was pretty cheap so I could afford three weeks of class. I already had about a year and a half of Spanish in University, but that was already two years ago so it was definitely good to freshen up at the start. If you're looking for a room after you've arrived, it makes your life a lot easier if your Spanish is good enough to have basic conversations with your potential landlords. finances Granada is a really cheap city, great because this way you can undertake a lot for little money. Rent is especially very low, I paid 180. The only reason you may spend more money here than at home is because you are abroad and want to travel and try as many new things as possible. There are also a lot of Erasmus groups, not just ESN, that organize trips to nearby cities, the beach, etc. These are often cheaper than if you go to those places yourselves via an ALSA bus. study/placement abroad period study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) During the first few weeks, as an Erasmus student you go to the different courses and see if you like them. If you are serious about taking a course, try to go from as early on as possible, because you will end up missing things if you only decide to join after three weeks, even though it is allowed. Apart from the content, the teacher is the most important factor in choosing your courses. I had a couple of teachers with very heavy accents that were difficult to follow, it's better to look for some teachers that you actually understand. Also, try to talk to the teacher after class and see how he responds to Erasmus students. I had one teacher who let us take the exams orally which in that case was a lot easier, whereas another teacher wouldn't even give us some
Universidad de Granada extra time to complete our written exam (as we of course needed a lot more time than the Spanish students). I only took courses at the Law Faculty and the CLM, as for instance the Humanities Faculty uses different timeslots (everything starts half an hour earlier than at the Law Faculty), so it can be hard to find courses that you can combine with each other. Criminology is also taught at the Law Faculty and can have some very interesting courses. academic quality of education/placement activities I think the contents are not necessarily easier, but there are still a lot of courses without papers and other assignments, that only have one final exam, and where you're really just expected to listen to the teacher and remember what he said for the exam. That is however, changing a bit I feel like, some courses have more than others. Also take into account that for one course may have different teachers and (slightly) different examination methods and course contents. counselling/support at host institution/organisation I didn't really need extra support, but the International Office was generally helpful. transfer of credits Can't really say too much about that, as the process isn't completed yet. student life welcome/orientation programme The orientation programme organized by the university was quite limited. Also, we for instance had our Faculty's introduction meeting (explaining us how to register for courses) after the courses had already started. Definitely look for all the Erasmus facebook groups, if they don't find you already. There was a group that organized somewhere to go every night for the first few weeks, which was a great way to get to know the city and what it has to offer, as well as your fellow Erasmus students. Accommodation There really is an abundance of student flats available, so the looking for room process is quite different from that in Utrecht. Whereas in Utrecht the other housemates select you, in Granada the landlords can't really be picky and if you want a room you can usually have it. So don't feel pressured to accept something too quickly. I lived close to Plaza Einstein (in Calle Sol), which I would definitely recommend. It is a nice student area and there are a lot of cheap restaurants and bars. Also a recommendation is close to plaza Trinidad, or close to Plaza Nueva. It's easy enough to find a room after arriving, so I would definitely recommend doing that. You'll have the chance to compare prices, location and insides of the apartment. You'll definitely encounter some landlords who will try to ask more for the rooms than they're worth, it is definitely possible to find something good for 250 max, including gas/light/water. Take into account that it gets pretty cold in winter here, mostly inside the houses. So try to find an appartment with central heating, and if there is central heating, ask if you can turn it
Universidad de Granada on yourself or it is turned on during (very) limited hours for the whole building. leisure/culture There is so much to do and to see, Granada is a really great city! Lots of historic sites with of course the beautiful Alhambra as the most important one. Also countless nice places to go for tapas (usually you get a free tapa with a drink, so it's also really cheap), loads of atmosphere on the streets (if you can forgive the Spanish for walking so slowly and in your way ‐ the Dutch go outside to go from A to B, whereas the Spanish are outside relaxing, hoping to walk into people they know, etc.). It's not very big so you can walk pretty much everywhere, and it really is a student city, somewhat like Utrecht. suggestions/tips Great places to visit are obviously Sevilla, the beach (if you go the fall semester go as often as you can in the first weeks as you'll have to miss it soon), la Alpujarra, Ronda, Córdoba, Cádiz. In Granada itself, the ones you MUST see are the Alhambra and the viewpoints Mirador de San Nicolas and Mirador de San Miguel. conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain Yes, definitely. Maybe not as useful academically or professionally as going to for instance the US or the UK, but if you go mostly for the experience it's a great city with so much to do. do you have any additional advice or comments? I got a SIM card from Happymovil at the Phonehouse, wouldn't recommend this provider (bad service), probably best to get to get a well‐known name. The Blackboard system is really complicated, so ask around at the International Office in time if you can't get it to work. The International Office is open from 9.00‐14.00, so make sure you come a bit early (not at 13.55) and they're still very helpful. You will have to register as a resident in Spain with the Extranjería. Go there early in the morning. It is a three step procedure and if you go in the afternoon the other steps will have to wait until another day, as you have to go to a bank with your form to pay a fee, and the banks close in the afternoon. This whole procedure is a great example of Spanish bureaucracy, so approach it that way and expect to be there for the large part of the day and it can only turn out better. Ask Spanish students for their 'apuntes,' they usually don't mind sharing them and it can be really hard to make useful ones yourself. Ask for a bus card (sort of OV chip card, but without the checking out hassle) as soon as possible (you can get them from the busdriver) as this is about twice as cheap as buying individual tickets each time. If your parents are visiting, you can also swipe the same bus card three times for all of you. Expect things to be slow and inefficient and nobody to speak English and you'll only be pleasantly surprised. A lot of Spanish students are, because of the crisis, very motivated to learn English ‐ see if you can find someone to practice your Spanish and their English with. Learn the phrase for 'Could you please speak more slowly, I'm foreign' if it's not immediately obvious from your blonde hair. Have fun!
Universidad de Granada 2012‐2013 preparation exchange/placement application process I always wanted to speak Spanish fluently. When I learned it was easy to study abroad, through the partnerships, the only option that came in my mind was Spain. I orientated myself on Internet and on information meetings, when I made my decision for Granada; a nice student city in Andalucia. It is comparable to Utrecht (Madrid and Barcelona are way to big for me to live there), they speak castellano (not catalan) and I thought it wasn't a city I would visit quickly. Actually that was my first and only choice. If I wasn't selected, I was also happy to stay in the Netherlands. Fortunately I was selected immediately for Granada, even without a interview! counselling/support at home university The support at the home university was fine. I was informed on time by e‐mail when deadlines were approaching; when we had to hand in something or when there was some new information. Also when you went to the counselling hours you got help. Of course it is up to you to organize a lot yourself as well, but you could always ask for assistance. Perhaps the only problem was that it was always crowded at the counselling hours and you had to wait a long time, perhaps that can improve in the future. academic preparation I didn't do any academic preparation. For me the most important thing was to finish all my bachelor courses, so I could start my master after my exchange period. language preparation During my secondary school I already had some Spanish classes. During a summer holiday I practiced it again and after that I went to Instituto Cervantes, a language school from the Spanish government which has a location on the Domplein. I didn't go to James Boswell Institute, because they only offered preliminary courses. So the study year before I went for exchange I already took Spanish class to be well prepared. The half year before my exchange I didn't follow Spanish classes, because Instituto Cervantes is quite expensive and I was busy with completing my bachelor degree. finances I applied for the Erasmus grant, the payment for transport costs and worked extra to have some more extra money for my stay in Spain. The application procedures aren't difficult and don't take much time. Just arrange it early, to have your documents signed by the international office. During my stay I only had problems with the payment for transport costs. They calculated debts because I didn't stop my subscription by scanning my personal card for a machine. At the end I stopped this reward retrospectively, but because of that I didn't
Universidad de Granada receive a sum of 100 euro extra a month. Quite an expensive failure! study/placement abroad period study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) In November we had to subscribe ourselves for some courses via an programme on Internet. When I arrived in Granada it was made clear this selection was not final. It was better to follow some classes to take a look if you could understand the teacher (all classes are in Spanish) and ask if it was alright to follow this course as an Erasmus student. I also found out that my selection was practically impossible, because some hours coincide. First I also wanted to follow courses from other faculties, but I didn't do that eventially, because it was a bit difficult to organize and I didn't want to arrange that. In the first week I already managed to have organized my study programme. I selected courses which I found interesting and, above all, where I could understand the teacher for the biggest past. During my semester I had unfornately some changes in professors, ones I understood less, but I was still happy with my choices. It was however quite a challege to compose my study programme, because you had to watch the study guide to see all the courses and the hours, a true jigsaw! Besides my 3 law courses, I also followed a language course. For exchange students there was a special offer to go to Spanish classes for a reduced price and with assigned credits. Almost all the Erasmus students I know chose that, so it is also a good way to connect socially. academic quality of education/placement activities During my period I realized you mainly have problems with the difference in language than with the level of the education. What surprised me the most is that I almost didn't had books prescribed. Of the 3 courses, only for one I had to read a book of 250 pages. The Spanish education includes following lectures and listening to the subjects the professor has selected. Studying is really passive. What also striked me, is that they focus more on facts, differently than in the Netherlands. For example, I had an oral exam in which I had to tell where an article of a law was about. In our system it is more about applying the law, different from Spain. That explains as well the fact they don't use so much jurisprudence. Although I am not fluently I could follow much of the classes, of course at first less than after a few months. Also the exams were fine, not difficult at all. The academic quality is just not that high. To give an example, in the only study book I had, there was no citation at all. Only in the beginning they mentioned some sources, but they don't know foot‐notes. counselling/support at host institution/organisation In the orientation week there was a introduction meeting at the faculty which was very helpful. But besides the beginning it wasn't necessary to have much contacts with the host institution. It doesn’t mean the people aren't nice at the international office, they are always very helpful and if you want, they try to speak English. I would recommend you just go to the office when you got questions. transfer of credits While I am still studying in Spain, when I write this report, I cannot state anything about the transfer of credits. I
Universidad de Granada hope this process doesn't cause any problems, but I am a bit afraid for it.Things aren't organized so quickly in Spain and it is also period of holidays. However, I need the credits really on time, otherwise I cannot start my master in September. student life welcome/orientation programme A week before our classes started, there was an orientation week organized with meetings of the university and activities of the international students associations. This was very useful to get necessary information to study here, to get known with the city, but above all to learn new people. accommodation Before my departure to Granada, I already subscribed groups on Facebook for Erasmus students. There were much posts with rooms. I reacted on one, asked for pictures and checked the location, after which I decided to take it. When I arrived in Granada I could go to my room immediately. This was a very good decision. I lived in the city center and had very nice roommates. There were more people looking for rooms on Facebook, but there also pretty much who searched when they arrive in Granada. There are many agencies who offer rooms and you can also see many advertisements on the streets. leisure/culture Granada is a beautiful historical city. The main attraction is off course the Alhambra, an enchanting monument. But also the quarter Albaycin is on the list for world heritage. Besides that you got stunning views from the city center to the white tops of the Sierra Nevada. In any case the city has a nice location, near sea and mountains. Granada is also known for its tapas. Only in this city you get free tapas when you order a drink. You just don't need a dinner then! The culture in Granada is really outgoing. There are almost always people on the streets and there are many bars to have tapas. There are also many traditional festivities which made my stay special here, like Semana Santa (towards Easter), Dia de las Cruzes, Feria. Also the surroundings of Granada are special, I made trips to Sevilla, Córdoba, Ronda, the mountains and the beach, but there is many more to visit! Because you don't have to spend so much time for your university, there is enough time to discover Granada and its region. s suggestions/tips I found it difficult to get known with Spanish students. During the classes there is not much contact and it is hard to integrate with them. I was lucky to play hockey here with a male team (trainings) and because of that I had Spanish contacts. I would advise to do the same. If you practice a sport, try to find a team to play with. Or try to live with Spanish students. In that way you will really experience the Spanish culture and practice the language. conclusions
Universidad de Granada would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain I would defintely recommend Granada as a host organisation, especially for people who like challenges and different cultures. I really enjoyed my time here, especially for the cultural part. It is a beautiful city with a different culture from ours, yet it is not too far away. It was a great experience for me to meet people from all over the world and being able to say I got a sufficient knowledge of Spanish now. do you have any additional advice or comments? If you know you want to go to Spain and Granada in particular, try to get Spanish classes as soon as possible. The better your level of Spanish is, the better you will feel yourself at home! 2012‐2013 preparation exchange/placement application process Doordat ik een tussenjaar in Spanje had gedaan, wist ik zeker dat ik naar Spanje. Vervolgens heb ik een motivatiebrief in het Spaans geschreven, en ben ik aangenomen, volgens mij omdat ik de enige aanmelding was. Vervolgens krijg je vanuit Spanje wat mail met bevestiging. counselling/support at home university International office beantwoordt al je vragen per mail, meestal redelijk snel. Ze hebben ook spreekuren waar je langs kunt lopen. academic preparation Ik heb mij niet voorbereid op de vakken, omdat het lastig kiezen is vanuit Nederland. Het is makkelijker om uiteindelijk je vakken daar te kiezen, door in de eerste paar weken bij verschillende vakken en docenten te kijken wat je aanspreekt. language preparation Ik sprak al Spaans, maar om dit weer op te frissen heb ik twee weken voor het semester begon een taalcursus gedaan. Als je nog weinig Spaans spreekt is het wel belangrijk om zo'n cursus te doen, omdat alle vakken in het Spaans zijn. Maar het is ook leuk, je leert er veel mensen door kennen. finances Het leven in Granada is niet heel duur, dus met de Erasmus beurs, stufi, zorgtoeslag ben je al een eind. Om relaxed te kunnen leven is het wel fijn als je daarnaast nog een bijdrage van je ouders hebt, of zelf spaargeld hebt dat je kan gebruiken. Daar een baan vinden is lastig, en de lonen zijn laag. study/placement abroad period
Universidad de Granada study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) In de eerste weken kan je bij alle vakken langs gaan. Dan is het vooral ook handig om met de docenten te spreken om te kijken hoe ze omgaan met Erasmus studenten. Alle vakken zijn in het Spaans, het aanbod is redelijk breed, al zijn er ook vakken die je alleen in een bepaald semester kan doen, of die je een heel jaar moet volgen. academic quality of education/placement activities Het niveau van de vakken ligt lager dan in Utrecht, en er wordt vooral theorie bestudeerd. Werkgroepen kennen ze niet, ieder les is een hoorcollege waar je aantekeningen moet maken. Tentamens kan je vaak over overleggen met de docent. De universiteit organiseert verder weinig activiteiten, maar er zijn genoeg studentenorganisaties die tripjes en andere dingen organiseren. counselling/support at host institution/organisation De informatie vanuit Spanje is vrij traag, of blijft soms achterwege. Mocht er dus iets lang duren, zorg dan dat je er zelf achteraan gaat, dan worden al je vragen wel beantwoord. Het international office is alleen open tussen 10 en 2 uur 's ochtends. transfer of credits De meeste vakken zijn 6 punten waard, al verschilt het nog in welk programma je ze volgt (grado of licenciatura). student life welcome/orientation programme De universiteit heeft een welkomstpraatje, maar daarna moet je het meeste zelf uitzoeken. De algemene introductieweek stelt ook niet veel voor wat betreft activiteiten, je kan je dan beter aansluiten bij ESN, een Erasmus studenten organisatie die wel dingen organiseert. accommodation Er is geen campus, maar iedereen regelt zijn kamer ter plekke in Granada. Dit is heel makkelijk, er is een kameroverschot in Granada, dus je kan snel een kamer hebben gevonden. De prijzen liggen tussen de 150 en 350 euro, en heel veel kamers liggen ook goed in het centrum. leisure/culture Granada is een fantastische studentenstad. Er zijn veel Erasmus feestjes, en de Spanjaarden zijn over het algemeen open, vriendelijke mensen, die zeker open staan voor Erasmus studenten. Het is vrij klein, maar dat zorgt juist voor een goede studentensfeer. Daarnaast krijg je in bijna iedere bar bij je drankje een gratis tapa, vaak ook nog van goede kwaliteit. Daarnaast heeft Granada het Alhambra, een prachtig oud paleis, en zit je zowel dicht bij de bergen om te skieen, als dichtbij het strand.
Universidad de Granada suggestions/tips ‐ conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain Ik kan Granada absoluut aanraden om een half jaar te studeren. De Spaanse cultuur is anders dan de Nederlandse, en daarom geweldig om mee te maken. Het is een leuke studentenstad, en je leert makkelijk andere studenten kennen, zowel Spanjaarden als internationale studenten. Bovendien blijft het tot half november prima weer, alleen de winter is koud. do you have any additional advice or comments? Het is handig om op redelijk niveau Spaans te spreken, doe daarom vooral een cursus voor je verblijf!
